Change held item to ghost item after personal robots take it /Convert ghost item in hand into real item when available

Divran · Post by **Divran** » Sun May 16, 2021 4:51 pm

Hello,

When I place the last item of a type, then the held item will be turned into a ghost item, which is good, because it allows me to seamlessly keep placing the item as ghosts.

However, a very common problem I have in game is the following:
if my personal robots are the last thing to take the same item, then my held item isn't turned into a ghost item. Instead, it's unequipped and I have to click the toolbar again to re-equip it.

This is extremely annoying if I'm placing a blueprint that contains (for example) several hundred belts, and then at the same time I want to link up these belts to whatever attachment points are just outside the blueprint by manually placing a few more belts.
What happens after this is this:
1. My personal robots will deplete my held item, which removes the held item from my hand instead of changing it to a ghost item.
2. I re-select the item from my toolbar. It's now selected as a ghost item since I don't have any more of it.
3. My logistics robots deliver more of those belts to my inventory. The held ghost item is converted back into a real item.
4. Before I have time to click the ground in order to build, my personal robots pick them up and the item is again no longer selected in my hand, and I'm back to step 1 in an infinite loop.

If your logistics and personal robots pick up a certain rythm, it's entirely possible (and in fact very common) for this entire loop of events to happen once every 0.5 seconds. Meaning it's nearly impossible for me to manually place any items unless I temporarily disable my personal roboports, or just wait until they're done placing belts.

The solution to this problem is of course very simple. Please change it so that when personal robots pick up the last remaining item you are holding, it'll turn into a ghost, just like when you place it normally.

Thanks.

Post by **ssilk** » Mon May 17, 2021 1:33 am

Yes, that’s indeed quite annoying.

But there are mods
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/GhostInHand
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Kux-GhostInHand

Lowest0ne · Post by **Lowest0ne** » Tue May 18, 2021 4:40 pm

TL;DR

If my cursor is a ghost that has been created as a result of pressing 'q' on a building that is not in my inventory, the cursor should become the building when that it gets put into my inventory.

What ?

The situation can be described as me wanting to move an assembly machine over by one tile, but I do not have any in my inventory. I click 'q' on the assembly machine, and my cursor becomes a ghost. I then right-click on the machine to pick it up. My request is that once the machine is in my inventory, the ghost becomes the item itself, allowing my to place it without needing to press any other buttons.

Why ?

It would be a QoL.

Divran · Post by **Divran** » Tue May 18, 2021 9:08 pm

Thanks, I'll definitely be using one of those mods. I still think this should be handled by the game itself though.

Post by **ssilk** » Wed May 19, 2021 4:45 am

moved lowest’s one post to similar thread
See above for mods, that help to overdo this.

Xorimuth · Post by **Xorimuth** » Wed May 19, 2021 9:31 am

Another mod that does this, and more: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/CursorEnhancements

FuryoftheStars · Post by **FuryoftheStars** » Thu May 05, 2022 2:11 am

Seems another similar suggestion just got moved to implemented, I wanted to bump/+1 this for visibility to see if it can be implemented as well.

Post by **ssilk** » Thu May 05, 2022 5:33 am

I think it doesn’t work this way, but you can try your voodoo.

FuryoftheStars · Post by **FuryoftheStars** » Thu May 05, 2022 12:31 pm

Hey, no harm in trying. If this one were to be implemented, I’d have no need for the Curser Enhancements mod anymore (as I don’t make use of the rest of that mod’s features).

timeshifter · Post by **timeshifter** » Sun Jul 10, 2022 6:46 am

TL;DR

I keep getting frustrated by having a bunch of belts queued up for construction, and trying to place long strips of belts, as the "held item" disappears when belts run out, even when holding Shift for ghost mode.

What ?

If I'm holding Shift while dragging out a long line of belts that I currently have a few of, but not enough to finish construction, it should automatically switch to placing ghosts instead of just de-selecting the item. This gets frustrating when I have a bunch of belts queued up for crafting, because chances are by the time I've selected belts again to keep building, I actually *have* belts again, meaning the problem arises immediately. This is not resolved simply by holding Shift for ghost build mode, as soon as my personal bots deplete my available belts, the tool is de-selected again. The only way to build ghosts persistently is to select belts when I have none, which means I'm just wasting time planning when I could still have crafting queued. up.

Why ?

It would reduce the frustration of planning belt lines that you may currently have a limited supply of, and would make ghost building feel more consistent. Right now, if I run out of real belts while planning ghost belts, I suddenly can't build ghost belts anymore. Given that I wasn't actually *placing* real belts in the first place, this is a bit jarring.

FuryoftheStars · Post by **FuryoftheStars** » Sun Jul 10, 2022 7:25 am

Similar idea/vein of thought: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=98389

Post by **ssilk** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 5:21 am

merged.
Thanks, Fury!

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